


And Wit is Overcome

by hotrodngold (Krystalicekitsu)



Category: Stargate Atlantis
Genre: Angst, Break Up, M/M, Secret Relationship
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-30
Updated: 2014-09-30
Packaged: 2018-02-19 10:10:21
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 360
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2384537
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Krystalicekitsu/pseuds/hotrodngold
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Things only break when Rodney pays attention to them.</p>
            </blockquote>





	And Wit is Overcome

**Author's Note:**

> The title is a bastardized version of a Chaucer line from _The Miller's Tale_ : "You are a fool, your wit is overcome". Which I feel is something that could very easily be applied to Rodney, some days.

_I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry_ , John whispers.

His voice doesn't break, but that’s fine because Rodney’s not looking anyway. Things only break when Rodney pays attention to them.

He wants to say _Get out, I'm done, Fuck off_ , but the words won't come out his mouth because they're stopped up in his throat like a cork stuck, shoddily, crappily, inside a cheap bottle of champagne. He tries anyway. They fall to his feet, shatter into fragments and that, there, that’s what’s left of Rodney’s heart.

He stares at the floor, imagining broken, glistening heart-pieces, and tries to pretend he doesn't need them. He’s still staring when Sheppard opens the door, leaves. When the door slides quietly shut, he looks up.

 _Come back, I need you, You're important,_ he doesn’t say, because his heart was broken a long time ago and it never learned how to say those words anyway.

~*~

 _I’m sorry, I tried, I can't_ , Sheppard says.

Rodney can't look away, and he sees the tears fall. He should stop paying attention, let Sheppard stop breaking, but the gate is shimmering and the video connection will only last for two minutes, thirty-one seconds. Two minute, twenty-nine seconds.

Rodney wants to say _Come home, I need you, You're everything_ , but other people are paying attention, and Rodney can't break.

He puts a hand to the view screen, fingertips curling over the top.

The cork is stuck again.

 _John_ , he gets that out, knows he does.

One minute, three seconds.

 _I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry_ , Rodney tries to say, but there’s broken glass at his feet, tiny, tiny fragments of something.

Forty seconds.

 _Come home, Please, I need you_ , he tries. He gets out _I-_.

Sheppard smiles, watery and sad.

Five seconds.

 _Bye, buddy_ , John says.

Two seconds.

 _Please_ , Rodney gasps, chokes on the rest, but they're all there, hidden in that one breath, and he thinks John must seem them, because his smile turns bright and carefree before the world explodes in light and then falls to static.

 _I’m sorry, I love you, I need you_ , falls like white powder at his feet and Rodney falls along with it.


End file.
